The present disclosure relates to an air conditioner.
In general, air conditioners are apparatuses for adjusting an indoor temperature to make a pleasant air environment in an indoor space.
Such an air conditioner includes an indoor unit disposed in an indoor space and an outdoor unit for supplying a refrigerant to the indoor unit. Also, one or more indoor units may be connected to the outdoor unit.
Also, the air conditioner may perform a cooling or heating operation by supplying the refrigerant into the indoor unit. Here, a cooling operation or heating operation that is an operation of the air conditioner is determined according to a flow of the refrigerant. That is, the air conditioner may perform the cooling operation or the heating operation according to a flow of the refrigerant.
First, a flow of the refrigerant when the air conditioner performs the cooling operation is as follows. A refrigerant compressed by a compressor of the outdoor unit is converted into a mid-temperature high-pressure liquid refrigerant by passing through a heat exchanger of the outdoor unit. When the liquid refrigerant is supplied into the indoor unit, the refrigerant may be evaporated while being expanded in a heat exchanger of the indoor unit. Thus, surrounding air of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit decreases in temperature by the evaporation phenomenon. Also, when a fan of the indoor unit rotates, the surrounding air of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit, which decreases in temperature may be discharged into the indoor space.
Second, a flow of the refrigerant when the air conditioner performs the heating operation is as follows. When a high-temperature high-pressure gas refrigerant is supplied from the compressor of the outdoor unit into the indoor unit, the high-temperature high-pressure gas refrigerant may be liquefied in the heat exchanger of the indoor unit. Energy emitted by the liquefaction phenomenon increases a temperature of the surrounding air of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit. Also, when the fan of the indoor unit rotates, the surrounding air of the heat exchanger of the indoor unit, which increases in temperature may be discharged into the indoor space.
The compressor disposed in the outdoor unit may compress the refrigerant to the high-temperature high-pressure gas state. The compressed refrigerant may be discharged together with oil existing in the compressor. Also, the refrigerant and the oil that are discharged from the compressor may be introduced into an oil separator and thus be separated by the oil separator. The oil separated from the oil separator may be collected into the compressor through an oil collection passage.
However, when the oil separated from the oil separator is directly collected into the compressor, the compressor may be deteriorated in efficiency.